By Swati Bhatia, head of fixed income, financial information at SIX.
Sovereign bond issuance across the OECD’s member countries is predicted to have reach a record US$17 trillion at the end of last year, a scale of borrowing that would have seemed mind-boggling only a few years ago. On the corporate debt side, the total yield on US investment grade bonds, combining the underlying government yield with the credit spread, is close to 5 per cent and remains higher than levels seen through most of the post financial crisis era.
The surging supply in sovereign debt coupled with rising yields on corporate borrowing really shines a spotlight on an uncomfortable truth that has cast a long shadow over fixed income for years now. Bond markets might be expanding at a rapid rate, but the information infrastructure underpinning it is struggling to keep up.
Data Shortage a Challenge
Our latest Future of Finance (FOF) study found that 25 per cent of senior executives believe sovereign fixed income remains underdeveloped when it comes to real time data availability, with corporate bonds close behind at 24 per cent. In an environment where governments are issuing at record levels and investors absorbing massive volumes of supply, the lack of timely information, if not addressed quickly, could become structural vulnerable.
This challenge is becoming more acute as regulatory and market structure changes accelerate, including the move toward T+1 settlement in Europe late next year, which will require bond data to be accessible intraday rather than hours or days later.
One only needs to look at high profile volatility events exposing cracks within the system. During tariff driven market swings in April last year, every respondent in the study reported at least one data related challenge. The problems were not confined to a single issue. Consistency, speed, quality and volume of data all scored between 19 per cent and 21 per cent, showing that the industry is grappling with systemic weaknesses rather than isolated glitches.
Fragmentation of Datasets Remains Key Hurdle
Fixed income markets sit at the heart of macroeconomic risk. Governments refinancing trillions of dollars in debt need deep and liquid markets, while institutional investors allocating capital across sovereign and corporate yield curves need clarity on pricing and exposures.
Yet despite this, many market participants are still relying on fragmented datasets and delayed price discovery. Despite the vast scale of global fixed income issuance, the data landscape itself remains highly fragmented. Public sources often provide authority but limited granularity, while commercial providers offer depth and timeliness but with licensing constraints that restrict reuse and accessibility.
Persistent gaps in timely issuance data, private placements, emerging markets coverage and post issuance lifecycle updates continue to prevent investors from forming a truly global and comparable view of fixed income supply.
Data Focus Shifts
The shift in data spending priorities tells its own story. Regulatory and compliance data is the top area for increased investment, for 38 per cent of executives. Reference data follows at 34 per cent and historical data at 30 per cent. ESG data, once the dominant theme slipped to 25 per cent.
The focus has clearly shifted away from narrative driven datasets around company responsibility, towards pragmatic resilience. Firms want information that helps them manage sanctions risks, regulatory fragmentation and fast moving geopolitical developments.
For fixed income, this evolution is long overdue. Bonds have traditionally been less transparent than equities, reflecting their over-the-counter structure and institutional trading model. But discretion should not come at the expense of clarity. As issuance volumes climb and settlement cycles shorten, markets require faster and more reliable information flows.
Nearly all executives expect heightened market uncertainty to become a permanent feature of finance. If bouts of geopolitically driven volatility are now the new norm, bond markets cannot rely on infrastructure designed for a slower era. Real time data is now a foundation of liquidity. At the same time, AI driven issuance is accelerating the pace at which new bonds are brought to market, increasing the strain on primary market workflows and data pipelines. Without investment in more scalable infrastructure, the gap between issuance volumes and data timeliness will continue to widen.
Transparency Needn’t Be Sacrificed
Stronger reference data, better analytics and improved delivery speeds can help markets absorb record levels of issuance without sacrificing transparency. More reliable information also supports broader participation, from institutional investors managing balance sheet risk to retail investors accessing fixed income through new channels.
However, structural challenges remain, particularly around the lack of standardisation in bond documentation and prospectus data. Fragmented prospectus formats, inconsistent extraction of terms and conditions, and the continued reliance on manual processes in primary markets slow down information flows at precisely the moment speed matters most. Greater industry collaboration will be essential if market participants are to close these gaps and modernise fixed income data infrastructure.
The scale of borrowing projected for the coming years will test the resilience of global markets. Whether that supply is absorbed smoothly will depend not just on demand, but on the quality of the information investors rely on. Fixed income has always been the backbone of finance. Now in a world issuing trillions in new debt, that backbone needs stronger data to carry the weight.
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